Tom Pagès At Avoriaz
He jumps the cliff of Avoriaz in motocross
Tom Pagès
Several medals at the Red Bull X-Fighters and X Games, the Olympic Games of extreme sports.
A breathtaking jump
A sporting feat and a world first: a double front flip from the cliff of Avoriaz, with a parachute landing before leaving on two wheels.
The legend of freestyle motocross Tom Pagès realized a world first. He jumped into the void on his FMX motorcycle with the help of a parachute from the heights of the resort of Avoriaz. A breathtaking jump!
Some practice motocross, others BASE jump, but just Tom Pagès did the two together. The rider wanted to take up the challenge. Tom, freestyle motocross (FMX) champion, launched himself with his motorcycle in parachute in Avoriaz!
After a freestyle run of 3 tricks in the streets of the resort, Tom Pagès launched himself at full 4th gear, at 80km/h, on a 10m high and 76m long ramp. He projects himself more than 55m from the cliff, performs a double front flip in the air before free-falling with his bike at 150km/h and then activating his parachutes to land, 30 seconds later and 170m lower.
It’s a career project for me to bring together these two worlds that I love, FMX and freefall, in the same performance. And it’s a lifetime project for me to mix influences for create surprise and never be where you’re expected. For a freestyler like me, creating is not just inventing a new trick, it’s going to the end of an idea, whether it’s a physical challenge or a technical challenge. All the conditions were met, because nothing was left to chance, I’m not a crazy person who rushes headlong into things. It was obviously dangerous but everything was precise and calculated. I followed a program with a very high level of preparation, surrounded by experts in different fields. During the 5 days in the resort, Fred Fugen of the Soul Flyers was with me to assure the safety and to help me in the mental preparation. The most difficult element to master was also the most invisible in the video: the wind. There are inspiring people who have opened the way for me, it’s always been my driving force, and I want to encourage others to go to the end of themselves. I have a special thought for the stuntman Alain Prieur, that I admire a lot, and the parachutist Vince Reffet, my friend who I miss.
Key figures:
- Ramp height: 7m, 10m if scaffolding is included.
- Ramp length: 15m, 76m if scaffolding is included.
- Cliff height: 130 m vertical at the exit.
- Height reached in double flip: 155 m if we refer to the exit height, 15m above the ramp, 170m if we refer to the landing zone.
- Jump duration: 3 seconds of tricks, 2 seconds of fall, 25 seconds under canopy 30 seconds in total.
- Length cliff projection: 55 m.
- Speed: at the bottom of 4th gears, 80 km/h
- Fall speed of the motorcycle under canopy: 15 km/h with the parachute.
- Speed of fall of Tom in fall without canopy: 150 km /h.
The production of Redbull©, his sponsor who helped him set up the project, made a documentary about his career, from his first jumps to the final video.
TomPagès
Born in Nantes, Tom Pagès did of his passion a job and of his dreams a reality. Multi-medalist at the Red Bull X-Fighters and X Games, the Olympic Games of extreme sports. Tom Pagès carried the colours of France high, facing American stars such as Travis Pastrana, during competitions and shows around the world.
A jack-of-all-trades, he also trains on the sand and in Rallye cars, but it is in freefall and base jumping that he launched himself in 2015, learning alongside the greatest, notably the Soul Flyers, Fred Fugen and Vince Reffet.
